The Boys Are Back In Town

The pop song lyric that titles this article was the theme of the IMCA late model Deery Brothers Summer Series a few seasons back, and seemed to me to be the perfect anthem for the traveling show. There is something special for late model fans to see the big out of town rigs rolling through town and down pit road at the local track. On Friday, that track was Quincy Raceways, and 29 competitors made the trip to the Broadway Bullring. The sun was out and the breeze was blowing on a beautiful Friday evening, as we anticipated the make up of the $3,000 to win Titan Wheel Classic which had been postponed during a rainy June. Unfortunately, there had been some heavy rain move through the Quincy area on Thursday evening, and the track was left a sloppy, muddy surface. Track personnel worked feverishly before the races, and again following heat race action, but the best they could do was a smooth and fast top groove around the .29 mile oval, while the lower grooves were choppy and treacherous. This is not to say that there was no passing, as heat one proved. 14 time track champion Mark Burgtorf drew the # 100 pill for heat race action, putting him last on the eight car starting grid. Mark caught a break when both Rob Toland and Kevin Blum were late to staging, moving him up to the third row. From there, Burgtorf used his knowledge of his hometown track to pick up the third and final transfer spot for the scheduled 50 lap finale. His luck continued to improve as he drew the number two slot for the money race. Jeff Aikey, Joey Gower, Terry Neal, and Jay Johnson captured heat race wins, while Bill Genenbacher and Andy Eckrich nabbed the two B- mains.Four
provisionals filled the field, including former track regular Nick Ingalls in Terry Gallahers # 0. Nick destroyed his car in a late June rollover. An announcement was made before the feature that the race would be cut to 40 laps, presumably due to track conditions. No one could have known what a dramatic effect this may have had on the final outcome. Burgtorf set sail from the outside pole and never looked back, leading all 40 laps. Ray Guss Jr. added to his storybook season by moving to the runner up slot at the checkers. As everyone surely knows by now, the " River City Hustler " has captured three track championships, the IMCA national title, and was now well on his way to the Summer Series title in his second season driving for Hershel roberts Motorsports. In fact, just before the drivers meeting, members of the team rolled in with a brand new Mastersbilt by Stuckey chassis they had just picked up in Mississippi. Track champion Denny Woodworth finished third, with Toland, Mark Peston, Gower, Charlie McKenna, Johnson, T.J. Criss and Jason Perry. rounding out the top ten. In talking to the top four after the races, all expressed doubts that they could have made the additional ten laps. Burgtorf had lost the belts off his engine and was overheating, Guss gad broken suspension, Woodworth had no brakes, and Toland had a broken radiator!
Support class action saw James Leffew capture a UMP modified win after the top two made contact on the final lap. Jason Cook made a trip south pay off with a flag to flag IMCA stock car win, while Bobby Anders paced the hobby stocks.
Saturday night, the " Boys " rolled into the Lee County Speedway in Donnellson, 34 strong. Heat race winners included Tyler Bruening, Criss, Aikey, who had exited the feature early on Friday, and Tom Goble. Eckrich nabbed his second B-main in two nights, along with Guss. Interestingly, Ingalls in the Gallaher machine again took the hard charger provisional.Quincy Raceways points runner up, jason perry, who finished tenth on Friday, took off from row two and grabbed the top spot on the first lap. Through several early restarts he held on, including one for 15th starting Josh Most, who went pitside with what he thought was a flat tire. His crew waved him back out, and he tagged the tail of the field. While the action was going on up front, including Toland and Aikey dueling for second, Most began picking off cars on the high side of the speedway. Lonnie Bailey charged from 19th to fourth before his engine grenaded, ending his night. Lonnie says it was his first blown engine in 21 seasons! Mark Burgtorf was running the high side of the track before breaking the brace bars on the nose of his ride, hampering his steering and sending him to the trailer. Guss also fell victim to a flat tire, and had to restart at the back. Through all of this, Most traveled the high groove, until with a handful of laps to go he used an inside move to nudge Toland to the third spot. Back on the top at the while flag, he used a all or nothing move through the final turns to try and overtake Perry. a surprised Perry missed his mark ever so slightly, and Most won the drag race to the line to take his second ever Summer Series win and leave Jason still looking for his first. Toland , Aikey and Justin Reed were top five finishers, while Terry Neal, who qualified for but failed to start the feature on Friday claimed sixth over Tom Darbyshire, Jay Johnson, eighth for the second night in a row, Boone McLaughlin, and Guss. The five class program ended about 10:30, and although the corners developed some holes, the track was plenty racy all night long.
On Sunday night it was back to Quincy for a King of the Hill challenge format featuring time trials in all four regular classes and three lap elinination races involving between three and five cars per round. The time trial winner in each class received a $100 bonus, led by Denny Woodworth with a lap of 14.097. The King of the Hill runoff winner in each class had the option of giving up their feature pole position for a chance at a 50% bonus should they come through for the feature win. Late model ace Jason Perry accepted the challenge for a shot at a $1,500 payday, as did stock car driver Wes Mayfield for a possible $600. Before the feature races, the UMP modifieds staged the River City Rumble, a 35 lap event for the top 12 in points in attendance for a $1,000 top prize. Drawing for starting positions, second generation driver Steven Delonjay parlayed a front row spot in to a flag to flag win. The IMCA late models race a trophy dash each week all season to accumulate points for a 20 lap finale at years end paying $600 to win. The late model lawyer Woodworth came from row two to grab the lead on lap three and held on for his second check on the night.
With a much better track than Friday, the features looked to be top notch, and that was proven out as the four finales were run. Visiting Matt Greiner used a rare for QR low groove to outlast Mayfield for the stock car win, while Michael Long came back from a sixth in the Rumble to take the big hardware over Tony Dunker. Bobby Anders nabbed his second main of the weekend over point champion Steve Carlin.
Woodworth definitely had his # 45DW late model dialed in, as he led all 30 laps of the IMCA late model finale to take his fifth win of 2010. The $1,000 payoff left him with a sweep of the nights events and a $1,700 payday. Justin Reed, Perry, Burgtorf and Joey Gower trailed Denny at the checkers.
This week the Sprint Invaders will be in action at QR, and the stock cars will get a night off.
Congratulations to Ray Guss Jr. and Roberts Racing on their Summer Series victory at the Boone Supernationals and their fifth championship of 2010.
It may be September, but there are still a lot of choices for racing fans, so even if you are not going to Eldora, take in some racing this weekend!